The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has voiced its protest against China's unilateral promulgation of a ban on fishing in the East Sea, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

Ministry spokesperson Luong Thanh Nghi on Friday told the press that Vietnamese representatives had met with Chinese side to protest the ban by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture.

On January 17, a Chinese fisheries website posted the announcement by the ministry saying China will conduct the ban on fishing in the East Sea, including some marine areas of Vietnam, between May 16 and August 1.

Nghi told the press the ban violated Vietnam's sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands and its sovereign and jurisdiction rights over its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.

He added that the ban violated the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and made situation in the East Sea more complicated.

"Vietnam has undisputed sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes, and sovereign and jurisdiction rights over its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea," the spokesman said.